Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Tweed and Velvet......

I fell in love with this fabric when I saw it on clearance at Joanns. I am sure I spent less than $12 on this skirt. Maybe I loved it so much because of the price ;-) or maybe, it reminded me of this skirt from the House of Bruar. Knowing the skirt from Scotland was way too expensive, I am sure that settling for this fabric was a great comprimise! Now I only wish I had more of it!

I think I bought the fabric two winters ago and I am guessing it is a poly/wool blend or something along those lines. It might be considered a tweed also but I can't say for sure. I don't know that much about textiles! The flowers are velvet and I would love to know exactly how they produced the weave and then added the flowers.

I remember cutting it out imeddiately because I was so excited about it. The sad thing is that I was just not satisfied with the way it turned out so I threw it into my UFO (unfinished objects) basket and just pulled it out last week! I guess it must have sat there for a good two years with an attempted rolled hem (what was I thinking?! This fabric is way too thick for that!), a waistband that was half on, and no zipper in site. It was also just too large on me and the shape of the gores were unflattering. Did I mention that I tried to finish the seams with binding too? I am sure you can just imagine how well that *did not* drape.

So I took off all that binding, took in the seams and serged the raw edges instead. The attempted rolled hem was as sad as can be with whip stitches that must have been at least one inch long (?!) so I took that out too. Some black poly hem tape lent it self well to this skirt and finished the hem so beautifully. I think I would be willing to wear this skirt inside out........

It was my first time to do a lapped zipper but that was only because I was desperate and didn't have an invisible zipper that was suitable. If I remember correctly it was one of those Reader's Digest sewing books that saved me. Love the index in those ;-)

Anyways, back on track here. The pattern I used was one of those that I found at a thrift store. It is just 8 gores with a waistband and side zipper. If you wanted something similar, the Beatrix Skirt from Sense and Sensibility patterns would work. So would the Walking Skirt from Folkwear . I looked on the Simplicity pattern website and there are several gored skirt patterns that would lend themselves to this pattern too.

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Hello and Welcome! Thank you for visiting! This is my online journal where I catalog my sewing projects, findings and inspiration. I hope you enjoy your visit and are inspired in even the smallest way. Blessings!